I Do!: Brittany Kriegstein and Eduardo Gonzalez, of Brooklyn

On their first date, they sat on separate benches eating mac and cheese in Manhattan’s West Village.

This was love in the time of the pandemic for Brittany Kriegstein and Eduardo Gonzalez, who met on a dating app in May 2020. She lived in Manhattan; he in Westchester.

“I thought ‘He’s kind of brave,’ which I like,” recalled Kriegstein, 30, a journalist. “It kind of set a good tone for what was to come.”

Like many couples whose relationships began during the pandemic, they had little to distract them as they got to know each other. They bonded over everything from his Mexican heritage and her Jewish roots to her love of horses and his career shift from beer salesman to AI engineer. They rollerbladed along the Hudson River, ate ice cream while strolling through an eerily empty Midtown and walked to the beach while sipping to-go cocktails (which they dubbed “walktails”).

“There were no loud bars to go to or drunk friends to contend with, so we got to know each other in a more sensitive way,” Kriegstein wrote in a column for Katie Couric Media, a news company.

By the time they vacationed in Scotland in 2023, Gonzalez knew marriage would mean embracing her love of horses. During a visit to the farm where her horse, Ruben, was born, he learned to ride, impressing his girlfriend.

On July 13, 2024, when Kriegstein arrived at Ruben’s New Jersey stable, Gonzalez was already on her horse. Wearing a mariachi suit and sombrero that hid his face, he was waiting in the indoor ring, where an aisle of roses guided her toward him.

“I’m kneeling and I’m professing I can’t see my life without her and her first reply was ‘Are you proposing?’ ” Gonzalez, 31, recalled with a laugh.

They were married in English and Spanish during a May 24 ceremony at a friend’s Oyster Bay farm. Ruben served as ring bearer, with a wooden box around his neck holding the rings.

Kriegstein loved when Gonzalez’s parents allowed themselves to be lifted in chairs for the Hora. He appreciated that she embraced his elaborate mariachi attire instead of worrying he was trying to outshine her.

“I married my best friend, and I’ve been able to celebrate that with everybody that we love,” Gonzalez said. “Both our families get along. I just feel like we built a bigger table.”

Nominate a couple who has gotten married in the past 12 months. Email your love story, in 250 words or less, to lilife@newsday.com, subject line I Do!